Alabama

Addicted mothers target of state law

District attorneys in Mobile County and elsewhere in Alabama are wielding a 2006 drug-fighting law to protect newborn and unborn children of addicts.

The chemical endangerment law - written amid rising concern about clandestine methamphetamine labs - makes it a crime to expose a child to illegal drugs or paraphernalia.

Randy Hillman, executive director of the Alabama District Attorneys' Association, said that prosecutors are not interested in jailing pregnant women and recently delivered mothers.

Hillman said that they're using the law as leverage to get women into drug treatment.

"Prosecutors are trying to salvage lives," he said, adding, "District attorneys have an affirmative duty to help the child, and help the mother."

He said that some of the state's judicial districts "are knee-deep in methamphetamine addiction."

Richard Keith, president of the Alabama Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, questions the tactic. He said he believes that prosecutors have "good intentions," but often the state intervenes to take custody when a mother becomes the focus of criminal charges.

"That is a drastic and harsh remedy," he said. "If doctors cannot determine a child has suffered adverse effects from exposure, generally it's not in the child's best interest to be taken from its mother."

The issue is receiving national attention as news outlets cover two cases in Covington County where women are fighting the endangerment charges.

"We started using this statute about two years ago," said Covington County District Attorney Greg Gambril, "and since that time, we have seen a positive effect. All the mothers we have prosecuted have been sent to drug rehab programs that cater to expectant or new mothers. None have re-offended."

Shekelia Ward, 29, was arrested in Covington County and accused in January of chemically endangering of her child.

Ward, who has a number of drug and bad-check charges on her record, initially agreed to attend drug treatment in order to lower her bond, but later entered a plea of innocence.

Tiffany Michelle Hitson, 22, agreed to drug treatment after she spent a year in jail for unrelated charges just after her daughter was born with drugs in her system.

Hitson was charged with chemical endangerment, and was jailed for violating probation on a series of credit card fraud and burglary charges. Her lawyer said she is undergoing drug treatment in north Alabama, but regrets pleading guilty to chemical endangerment.

Gambril said his office has publicized its stand on chemical endangerment locally through the medical community, newspaper advertisements, and radio and television interviews.

He said that women are made aware that they will be charged if babies test positive for drugs. They also learn, he said, that pregnant women can contact his office or other local agencies to get clean of drugs without fear of prosecution.

"In the past 10 months," Gambril said, "no babies have been born at local hospitals with drugs in their systems, and no pregnant probationer has tested positive for drugs."

He said, "This has made a clear difference."

Mark John Christensen, the lawyer who represented Hitson in Covington County, expressed skepticism that the policy has delivered dramatic results.

He said the state already has programs "to deal with the issue and protect children. Using the chemical endangerment statute this way is just not a good idea. It was not intended for this."

State Sen. Lowell Barron, D-Fyffe, the law's sponsor, agreed. "I hate to see a young mother put in prison away from her child," Barron told the Associated Press.

But in Mobile County, Assistant District Attorney Steve Giardini said he has prosecuted "scores" of mothers ? more than 100 ? who were accused of chemically endangering their children.

Giardini said his office has worked closely with the state Department of Human Resources for more than four years to combat a growing endangerment problem.

Before 2006, before the current statute was adopted, Giardini's office charged mothers who used drugs during pregnancy with endangering the welfare of a child, which is a misdemeanor. Beginning in 2006, prosecutors were able to charge women with the new statute of chemically endangering the welfare of a child, a felony.

Each week, Giardini said, his office sees at least two or three new cases.

He said DHR is notified by local hospitals when children test positive for drugs or exhibit problems caused by drugs, and that DHR passes the cases on to prosecutors who "determine whether it's suitable for case review or not."

Not everyone is arrested, Giardini said. "We give these folks incentives to do right," he said.

But Mobile obstetrician/gynecologist Ruth Shields suggested that the threat of arrests may work against protecting infants. Shields, a partner at Bay Area Physicians for Women, chaired a task force that recently studied ways to battle pre-natal damage to babies from drugs and alcohol.

"We went to Chicago for a conference and looked at the precedent from South Carolina, where they prosecuted expectant mothers," Shields said. "It had a negative impact on getting women in for prenatal care. The key is to get drug-dependent women in for care, then convince them to get into treatment before the third trimester, which is the worst time for drug and alcohol exposure."

Shields said babies damaged by drugs and alcohol in that last trimester before birth have permanent, lifelong disabilities.

Threats of prosecuting addicted mothers had one outcome in South Carolina, she said. "It drove them underground," Shields said. "They avoided health care for fear of being arrested. Using laws against them is counterproductive if you want to help babies."

Baldwin County District Attorney Judy Newcomb said she hasn't charged anyone under Alabama's law. She added that prosecutors rarely encounter cases of pregnant women and young mothers putting children at risk.

The statute itself also poses obstacles to prosecution, Newcomb said. "The statute calls for death or serious injury to the child," she said. "You have to determine if the child was injured. It's a difficult situation."